Accounting for Opportunity

Alumni Mary ’85, P’18 and Pat ’83, P’18 Haveron, repay debt of gratitude with new opportunities for Scranton students.

Gratitude. Opportunity. The greater Scranton area. This is the connective tissue that inspires the philanthropy of Mary ’85, P’18 and Pat ’83, P’18 Haveron, two Royals who remain ever mindful of the many gifts The University of Scranton has bestowed upon them throughout their lives.

“I really feel like I became a different person,” said Mary, a certified public accountant who serves as the accounting and finance director of Tire Alliance Groupe, of her student years. “I mean, you talk about a transformational experience – I do feel like I had one.

“It was a whole new world that I saw.”

“We are so grateful for what Scranton gave us both individually and together,” said Pat, who started his career as a certified public accountant and who now serves as CEO and CFO of Maiden Reinsurance Ltd. “We’ve been very, very fortunate.

“To be able to give back is not just a reflection of gratitude for what Scranton gave us, but for me, is also the realization of advice my dad gave me many years ago, to not forget what Scranton gave me and to give back what I could. It’s great advice we’ve tried to pass along to our children as well.”

The category of “what Scranton gave them” includes treasures, both tangible and intangible, that might make King Solomon himself envious: first-class educations, lifelong friendships and a 42-year romance that blossomed from a chance meeting at an off-campus party into a marriage that produced their three sons Matthew, Andrew and Sean ’18.

Over the decades since graduating, they’ve shown their gratitude for those treasures in a number of ways, including mentoring Scranton students and serving on both the Parents’ Executive Council and the Accounting Department Professional Council. Mary, a Scranton native who was the first in her family to attend a four-year college, also helped guide the University as a member of the Board of Trustees from 2016-2022. Currently, while splitting their time between Naples, Florida, and Old Tappan, New Jersey, Pat serves on the President’s Business Council Executive Committee while Mary serves on the Campaign Executive Committee of A Fire That Kindles Other Fires, the University’s comprehensive capital campaign.

In addition to sharing their time and talent, they’ve also generously donated to many University causes that reflect their priorities, including the Presidential Scholarship Endowment Fund, which provides full four-year, merit-based scholarships to outstanding first-year students, the Opening Doors Scholarship Fund, which provides last-dollar funding to students who have demonstrated financial need from the Cristo Rey Network of high schools, Arrupe College, and similar institutions, and the Rev. Kevin P. Quinn, S.J. Athletics Campus, a project that revitalized part of Mary’s hometown and gave a permanent home to Scranton Baseball, the team that both Pat and Sean played for during their student days.

“To see your son playing for the same school that you played for on something that you had a role in creating - that, obviously, was very exciting and fulfilling,” said Pat.

“I almost get choked up thinking about it,” said Mary. “I’m a West Side girl … and I was so happy to see the area revitalized while benefitting both the University and the community. It’s beautiful.”

Most recently, the couple established The Haveron Family Scholarship, a need-based award that will benefit students from the greater Scranton region pursuing undergraduate degrees in accounting, the field that served as the springboard to both of their professional lives.

“(Accounting) not only gives you a life skill,” Pat said, “but you’re also instantly hire-able and able to build a stronger business resume with an accounting degree.”

Through the scholarship, Mary and Pat hope to provide students from the Scranton area who might think the University is out of their price range with the same sort of transformational opportunities their educations have made possible.

“I think people in (Northeastern Pennsylvania) often think they can’t afford going to Scranton,” Mary said. “Without scholarships, grants and loans, I wouldn’t have been able to do it, and I think (college) was much more affordable at that time. Now, a student there is thinking, ‘I can’t do this.’ We want to be part of helping those students be able to bridge that gap.”

For Mary and Pat, The University of Scranton opened the door to a lifetime of opportunity; through their giving, they’ll continue to hold that door open for generations of Royals to come.

“We’ve been blessed in ways that we couldn’t imagine,” Pat said.

“I love helping kids who can’t afford it,” Mary said. “I was one of those kids.”